Material-Dependent Toxic Mechanisms of Different Types of Particulate Emerging Contaminants Toward Chlorella vulgaris

Particulate emerging contaminants (PECs) pose increasing ecological risks due to their widespread occurrence and complex environmental behaviors, yet their heterogeneous toxic mechanisms remain poorly understood, especially under environmentally relevant conditions and concentration gradients. Here, Chlorella vulgaris was used as a model organism to systematically compare the effects of polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs), silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) across environmentally relevant and elevated concentrations (100 μg/L and 10 mg/L). Distinct toxicity pathways were identified among PEC types. PSNPs primarily induced chronic interference via particle–cell interactions, heteroaggregation, sedimentation-driven shading, and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) regulation, rather than ROS-dominated toxicity. In contrast, AgNPs exhibited transformation-driven toxicity, undergoing intracellular speciation into Ag2S, AgCl, and Ag+, which triggered oxidative stress, membrane damage, and lipid peroxidation. TiO2NPs showed relatively high bioavailability and persistent oxidative stress effects. These results demonstrate that PEC toxicity evolves with particle type and concentration. Importantly, oxidative stress alone is insufficient to capture PEC ecotoxicity, which also involves the long-term impacts on algal behavior, sedimentation dynamics, and energy metabolism. This study provides mechanistic insights into PEC-induced algal toxicity and supports the source-oriented management of particulate pollutants in aquatic environments, particularly in hotspot scenarios such as wastewater discharge and sediment resuspension.